Turn off the Lights

Box Office Wizard (6.25.10)

By: | Movie Features | June 25, 2010
Merlin? Gandalf? The Wizard of Oz? You could be like THEM. Don't be shy and enter Player Affinity's weekly box office prediction competition. All you have to do is read this post and comment according to my mind-numbingly simple instructions and you could be on your way to Dumbledorian levels of accomplishment.

All we want you to do is get out your box office crystal balls and tells us which five movies will place in the top five of each weekend's U.S. domestic box office chart. Simple enough, right? I will make my own predictions here and explain them to you each week to give you some sort of reference point. It's then your job to enter a comment with your top five. 

This is Week #8. The first week you predict is the first week you enter the Box Office Wizard competition. For every correct prediction each week, you earn a point. Points are cumulative. The game keeps going on and on forever and ever except we will reset everyone back to zero -- let's say -- once a year. Each week there will be at least two winners: a weekend wizard for the users who guessed the most correct and a box office wizard for the user with the most points to date. The goal is to be Box Office Wizard for as long as you can. I'll pick an end date for the year at some point and then whoever has the most becomes the year's box office wizard. Maybe by the team that happens, Player Affinity will be so wildly popular that we'll have some cool free stuff to give the Box Office Wizard of the Year. Regardless, it's worth giving a try. What do you have to lose?

Week #7 Wizard(s): Steven C, SimonSays - 4 pts each
Current Box Office Wizard: Steven C - 24 Pts 

Simon and I might have won this weekend, but the rest of you, including our newcomer Sallas, predicted correctly that Get Him to the Greek would stay up in the Top 5 because Jonah Hex wouldn't make it. Good call, it's just too bad you all didn't expect it to be fourth, not fifth.

ALL-TIME TOTALS
Steven C - 24
SimonSays - 20
TheGamerGeek - 14
Olly H - 14
Dustin C - 8
Dementious - 5 
Sallas - 3
Matthew D - 3
Lydia - 2

Remember, only submissions in the comment section count and they must be made by 12:00 PM SATURDAY. Check our weekly recap posting late afternoon every Monday for the box office figures of the weekend. Remember, we count the WEEKEND ACTUALS, not the ESTIMATES announced on Sundays. On 4-day weekends, only the 3-day total matters.

Here are last week's top five finishers and this week's new contenders followed by my predictions.

Last Week's Top Five
          1. 1. Toy Story 3 - $110.3M (weekend) … $110.3 M (gross)
          2. 2. The Karate Kid - $55.7M … $107.1 M
          3. 3. The A-Team - $14.4M … $50.4 M
          4. 4. Get Him to the Greek - $6.1 M … $47.8 M
          5. 5. Shrek Forever After - $5.6M … $223.0 M
          New Contenders this Weekend

          Knight and Day
          Directed by James Mangold
          Written by Patrick O’Neill
          Starring: Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, Peter Sarsgaard
          Genre: Action/Comedy
          Distributor: Fox
          Release: 3,098 theaters 
           



          Grown Ups
          Directed by Dennis Dugan
          Written by Adam Sandler, Fred Wolf
          Starring: Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock, Rob Schneider, David Spade
          Genre: Comedy
          Distributor: Sony/Columbia
          Release: 3,534 theaters 




          My Top Five Predictions

          A five-day forecast would be tough to nail, so we've got a head start on Wednesday, so I think it will run out of a lot of steam by the time it gets to Friday, which would deplete it of any chance to become number one for the weekend and quite likely number two as well. Toy Story 3 will easily win the box office again with about $55-60 million.

          Next will be Grown Ups. Adam Sandler films have a terrific track record at the box office and with a wider appeal, expect this movie to earn between $35-40 million. Knight and Day slides in here with $25-30 million after being depleted by an early release. It’s hard to downplay a movie with Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz (my only lack of confidence this week) but I’m not sure it’s got much else going for it and there’s little guarantee as there is with a Sandler movie.

          Finishing things up, The Karate Kid will have its way with fourth place and $15 million at the least and The A-Team will stay on the leader board yet again despite competition from “Knight and Day” with $6-8 million.

          1. 1. Toy Story 3
          2. 2. Grown Ups
          3. 3. Knight and Day
          4. 4. The Karate Kid
          5. 5. The A-Team 

          Comments

          Meet the Author

          Steven Chaitman

          Follow Us